Bookstart: A qualitative evaluation

Bookstart, an early intervention strategy to develop the foundations of literacy in children's early years, was developed in Birmingham 10 years ago. Virtually all the research, conducted over that time, which made it a national and international project, was quantitative in nature. This research is contextualised and reviewed in the early sections of this paper. However, the importance of the data presented here is that they are qualitative and represent the views of professionals engaged in a Bookstart project in one borough. The article shows how both qualitative evidence and quantitative data point in the same direction to the effectiveness of Bookstart as an intervention strategy to facilitate literacy learning in the early years.